Digitisation in practice – what distinguishes documentary photography
In the "www.muzeach" project, we used five methods of digitisation. The basic one was documentary photography. Lech Sandzewicz, senior photographer specialist at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, explains when photography becomes digitisation.
What is digitisation and can it be strictly defined?
Digitisation is the process of creating the most faithful digital images of objects, with a visible colour calibration target, scale and inventory number, with metadata and a colour profile (minimum ADOBE RGB 1998) added to the file, with linear processing of the captured RAW files, finally converted to the TIFF format with compression (if the file size is important for practical reasons). It is used for creating digital museum collections parallel to the physical ones.
What conditions must be met for photographic documentation to become digitised?
Place – a studio with general conditions that are safe for objects to be digitised. This includes specialist consultations and protection of unstable, particularly sensitive museum items. Then the photo plan must be adapted to the size, shape and weight of the object, and the background and surroundings in the studio must be neutral so as to minimise any impact on the image obtained.
Equipment – a camera with a matrix that generates digital files at least 5000px on the long side of the photo, good quality fixed focal length lenses, preferably macro type, ensuring maximum resolution (focal length selection) and drawing sharpness as free as possible from optical aberrations. Daylight source repeatable in strength and colour (5500 degrees K), symmetrically positioned for optimal reproduction of details and colour. A slight light accent is recommended to enhance the texture or shape.
Execution – producing the smallest number of photos that can be safely taken, showing the entire surface of the object and important details (e.g. points, autographs, identification marks). For flat objects, i.e. paintings, drawing and graphics these will be two shots (face and reverse); for spatial objects – a minimum of four (rotated every 90 degrees). The individual types of items require carefully selected methods of work in a studio.
Photographers should use the best available methods, regardless of the type and technical advancement, and those responsible for developing procedures should effectively share them – an inter-museum exchange of ideas is recommended. It is also necessary to verify the quality and value of the created visual material and metadata reliably and consistently.
What are the benefits of digitisation?
Huge because the real goals are:
- Cataloguing digital images of museum objects with quick access to extensive information contained in a single file. It shows objects in the collections of various institutions and their condition.
- Depiction and description of objects important for our historical identity and knowledge and for their protection. Everything for future generations.
- Providing access to the public and scientists, supporting modern methods of visualising collections, facilitating museum visits for people with disabilities, access to objects that are stored in warehouses for various reasons, etc.
Digitisation should be continuous and indefinite, which results from the original assumptions of many projects, and it is difficult to predict what its future applications might be, as the technologies of the future will overcome today's limitations.
The project “www.muzeach” is co-financed from European Funds and from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National of the Republic of Poland. The project is implemented under the Operational Programme Digital Poland for the years 2014-2020, Priority Axis 2 “E-government and open government,” Action 2.3 “Digital availability and usefulness of public sector information,” Sub-action 2.3.2 “Digital availability of culture resources.”
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